Conference Call for Papers

The annual Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages is a forum for the discussion of all aspects of programming languages and programming systems. Both theoretical and experimental papers are welcome, on topics ranging from formal frameworks to experience reports. We seek submissions that make principled, enduring contributions to the theory, design, understanding, implementation or application of programming languages. The symposium is sponsored by ACM SIGPLAN, in cooperation with ACM SIGACT and ACM SIGLOG.
Evaluation criteria

The Program Committee will evaluate the technical contribution of each submission as well as its accessibility to both experts and the general POPL audience. All papers will be judged on significance, originality, relevance, correctness, and clarity. Each paper should explain its contributions in both general and technical terms, identifying what has been accomplished, explaining why it is significant, and comparing it with previous work. Authors should strive to make their papers understandable to a broad audience. Advice on writing technical papers can be found on the SIGPLAN author information page.
Evaluation process

Authors will have a multi-day period to respond to reviews, as indicated in the Important Dates table. Responses are optional. They must not be overly long and should not try to introduce new technical results. Reviewers will write a short reaction to these author responses. Following the precedent set by POPL 2018, the program committee will discuss papers entirely electronically rather than at a physical programming committee meeting. This will avoid the time, cost and environmental impact of transporting an increasingly large committee to one point on the globe. Unlike in recent years, there will be no formal External Review Committee, though experts outside the committee will be consulted when their expertise is needed. Reviews will be accompanied by a short summary of the reasons behind the committee’s decision. It is the goal of the program committee to make it clear to the authors why each paper was or was not accepted.

For additional information about the reviewing process, see:

Principles of POPL: a presentation of the underlying organizational and reviewing policies for POPL.
Frequently asked questions about the reviewing and submission process, especially double-blind reviewing.